Reflectorized disc marker and bracket



June 7, 1960 J. D. DOSWELL ETAL REFLECTORIZED DISC MARKER AND BRACKET Filed April 2, 1959 INVENTORS James .aoswe Jan/usw. Schu/2:5. gl/W7 H. Faer 6r.

ATTORNEYS.

REFLECTORIZED DISC MARKER AND BRACKET James D. Doswell, Junius W. Schultz, and Lynn H. Faber,

Sr., Richmond, Va., assignors to Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac Railroad Company, Richmond, Va., a corporation of Virginia Filed Apr. 2, 1959, Ser. No. 803,664

1 Claim. (Cl. 88-81) This invention relates to a reflector signal means for application to a vehicle, and more particularly to a reflector signal adapted to be used on the rear end portion of a railway car.

The principal object of this invention is to provide a reector member mounted on a vertically arranged shaft which is adjustably mounted around its axis so that the reecting face of the signal may be adjusted to face in different directions with the result that any one signal may be mounted on either side or end of a car. This arrangement does away with the need for both a right hand and a left hand signal, as the bracket can be attached wherever desired merely by adjusting the reflecting member on its axis from one position to another where it will always be held securely in the bearing slots.

A further object of this invention is to provide a reflector signal which is inexpensive to manufacture, easy to operate, and simple in construction.

Other objects will appear hereinafter throughout the specification.

Referring to the drawings:

Figure 1 is a detail view in perspective showing my reflector signal mounted on the side of a railway car;

Figure 2 is a vertical sectional view taken on the line 2-2 of Figure 1; andVV Figure 3 is a perspective view of the bracket used to support my reflector signal on a railway car and showing the means on the bracket which permits the reflector to be adjusted to different positions with respect to the car on which it is mounted.

In the drawing, 2 represents a railway car which carries a bracket 4 provided with a slot 6 of dovetail shape to receive a correspondingly shaped plate 8 forming a part of the reector supporting bracket 10. As shown in Figures 1 and 3, a bar member 12 projects outwardly from the plate 8 for connection with the outer bracket element 14 which comprises a strap member bent to form a cylindrical member 16 in which is mounted the bearing member 18 for the vertically disposed tubular shaft 20 which supports the reflector signal. As clearly indicated in Figures A1 and 3, the ends of the strap member 14 are riveted or otherwise suitably secured together adjacent the cylindrical member 16 as at 22, and also to the bar member 12 as at 24. In order to prevent rotation and axial movement of the bearing member 18 in the cylindrical member 16, screws 26 are driven through the wall of the member 16 into engagement with the ,member 18. The shaft 20 has its upper end provided with a diametrically arranged slot 28 in which the lower edge of the metallic plate 30 is secured by any suitable means. The plate 30 extends upwardly from the shaft 20 and carries the round colored glass or plastic disc 32 which is flat on its inner side to engage the plate 30 and convex on its outer side as shown in Figure 2. As

nited States Patent ICE shown in Figures k1 and 2, the colored reector disc 32 the plate 30 by the rivets 38, and an axially extending flange 40 which has its outer edge bent inwardly at 42v to engage the front face of the colored disc 32.

In order to adjust the reflector to different positions in the bearing member 18, the upper end of the bearing member is slotted to provide upwardly extending projections 44 between different pairs of which the lower side of the plate 30 may be resiliently held by the spring 46 on the shaft 20 below the bearing member 18. The spring 46 is confined under compression between the lower end of the bearing member 18, and a cap nut 48 threaded on the lower end of the shaft 20. -If desired, the nut 48 may be secured in place by a set screw 50 or any other suitable means. When it is desired to adjust the reflector with respect to t-he bracket 10, it is rst pulled upwardly against the force of the spring 46 and then rotated to the desired position above the desired pairs of the projections 44 and then released to allow the spring to again seat the edge of the plate 30 between pairs of projections 44 in the new position. The principal function of this adjusting means is to enable the reflector to be used on opposite sides or on the ends of a car. By reason of this adjustment, the need for having a right hand and a left hand reflector is eliminated because the supporting bracket is on the side of some cars and on the end of others, and if the reflector were stationary, it could not be used on either side of a car, nor could it be used on all cars. As a rule the reflecting surface will face to the rear of the car or other object on which it is to be used.

While the plate 3i) is shown as being substantially circular in form, it will be understood that any other suitable form could be used, if desired. Also it will be understood that the reector signal described could also be used on a truck, bus or other vehicle, if desired.

r[lie above description and drawing disclose one embodiment of the invention, and specific language has been employed in describing the gures. It will, nevertheless, be understood that no limitations of the scope of the invention are thereby contemplated, and that Various alterations and modifications may be made as would occur to one skilled in the art to which the invention relates.

We claim:

A reflector disc signal, comprising: an elongated bracket adapted to be detachably secured to a vehicle, said bracket comprising a narrow strip of sheet Imaterial folded at its mid-portion back upon itself to define a vertically disposed cylindrical bore at one end of said bracket, the free ends of said folded strip being disposed in alignment with and spaced from each other at the other end of said bracket; attachment means secured to said bracket between said spaced ends for detachably securing said bracket to said vehicle; a hollow cylindrical bearing member rigidly secured in said cylindrical bore and being provided with a plurality of spaced radially arranged slots in the upper edge portion thereof; a shaft rotatably and axially movable in and extending above and below said bearing member; a flat plate rigidly secured to the upper end of said shaft and extending upwardly therefrom in substantially the plane of the axis of said shaft, the lower edge of said plate being normally seated in one of said slots to prevent rotation of said shaft in said bearing member but being releasable from said slot to allow rotation of said shaft in said bearing member; a cap nut on the lower end of said shaft; a coil spring confined on said shaft between said cap nut and Y loner end of said bearing member to normally hold the lower edge of said plate` in a selected slot; a reector disc carried on the edge of said retiectorxdsc, said second ange having an` annular* projection Yoverlying the adjacent .portion of the outer face of sald reector dise to hold the same 10 490.343 against s aid plate. Y Y

References Cited in the hie of this patent UNITEDV STATES PATENTS Y Stetson Dec. 7, 1926 Goodnow Jan. 25, 1927 Carpenter Feb. 19, 1929 Mosby Nov. 15, 1949 FOREIGN PATENTS Great ...M Aug.V 10, 1938 

